January 1945: The Battle of the Bulge, in the Ardennes, began. The Soviet 'Red' army occupied the Hungarian city of Budapest.

February 1945: The RAF and USAF mounted a three wave bombing attack on the German city of Dresden.

March 1945: Record album charts were first published in the United States. American forces defeated the Japanese at the battle of Iwo Jima. The Arab League was formed by seven Middle East countries. Germany dropped its last V2 bomb on Britain.

April 1945: The American USS Liberty exploded in Bari harbour, Italy, killing 360 of the crew. At the end of World War 2, the Red army entered the Austrian city of Vienna. Franklin D. Roosvelt, the 32nd American President, died. At the end of World War 2, the Battle of Berlin began. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was shot by Italian partisans. The German armed foces in Italy surrended to the allies.

May 1945: Berlin was captured by Russian forces at the end of WW2. Victory In Europe Day (VE Day) was declared. Hitlers minister, Heinrich Himmler, comitted suicide. Arthur C.Clark suggested using relay satellites to cover the Earth.

June 1945: Russians found what was believed to be Hitlers body. Family Allowance payments in Britain began. A new communist government in Poland was established. The United Nations was founded.

July 1945: Winston Churchill lost the General Election. The first atomic bomb, developed by Robert Oppenheimer and his team at Los Alamos, was exploded in New Mexico. The Labour Party won a landslide victory in Britain's general election.

August 1945: An atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima from a US Boeing B29 bomber. The second atomic bomb of World War II was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Japan surrended unconditionally to the allies.

September 1945: On board the aircraft carrier 'Missouri', in Tokyo Bay, General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender. William Joyce, Lord Haw-Haw, was sentenced to hang at the Old Bailey.

October 1945: The United Nations Organisation formally came into being.

December 1945: In the 'Bermuda Triangle' five US Navy bombers, on a training flight, disappeared without trace. The US General George Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, as the result of a road accident . The International Monetary Fund was established.